Tag Archives: efficiency

A real national strategy —Jim Dwyer



What say we make a real national security strategy,
one based on energy independence and a sustainable economy?

Jim Dwyer write 3 May 2011 in the NY Times,

A National Security Strategy That Doesn’t Focus on Threats

“Poorly fitted air conditioners cost New York City 130 to 180 million
dollars a year in extra energy consumption,” one of the strategists,
Capt. Wayne Porter of the Navy, said Tuesday. “They generate 370,525
extra tons of carbon dioxide.”

Suppose, he says, you fixed them. And then you got the 40 states
that waste the most electricity to match the 10 most efficient. The
likely benefits are no surprise — less foreign oil, cost savings,
job creation, decreased pollution.

Now follow that thread to

“A National Strategic Narrative,”
a paper
written by Captain Porter and Col. Mark Mykleby of the Marines, which
calls on the United States to see that it cannot continue to engage the
world primarily with military force, but must do so as a nation powered
by the strength of its educational system, social policies, international
development and diplomacy, and its commitment to sustainable practices
in energy and agriculture.

“We must recognize that security means more than defense,” they
write. After ending the 20th century as the world’s most powerful
country, “we failed to recognize that dominance, like fossil fuel,
is not a sustainable form of energy.”

An army without an economy defends nothing.

Continue reading →

Energy efficiency in Valdosta: survey

The city of Valdosta wants your input on energy efficiency.

According to a press release from Sementha Mathews on 14 April 2011:

Valdosta Develops Strategy for Continued Energy Conservation

…

The final activity that is underway is the completion of an Energy
Efficiency and Conservation Strategy (EECS) to help Valdosta effectively
manage its use of energy resources. As part of this effort, the community’s
help is being requested to develop the best strategy possible for the city.
The EECS will take the form of a report to the city, helping us decide what
we want to achieve and then providing a strategy for getting us there. In
particular, the EECS provides guidance for future decisions to make sure our
choices reflect a smart and sustainable energy policy. This includes
potential projects and activities that the city can undertake to improve our
use of energy resources.

YOU CAN HELP!

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Georgia following Florida down the private prison path

Florida is already forging down the path Georgia wants to follow
on private prisons.
Steve Bousquet

writes in the Miami Herald:

The Florida Legislature’s push to privatize many more prisons, its
most far-reaching cost-cutting plan in years, could open a lucrative
door to politically connected vendors who stand to profit.

Senate and House budgets require the state to privatize prisons in
South Florida, home to one-fifth of the statewide inmate population
of 101,000. The region is the home of the GEO Group, the nation’s
second-largest private prison operator, which currently runs two private
prisons, including the largest private lockup, the Blackwater River
Correctional Facility in Milton.

Why is this path so popular with the Florida legislature?

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Why “jobs, jobs, jobs” isn’t good enough for the public good and the general welfare –John S. Quarterman



Sure, everyone wants jobs for the people right now and jobs
so the children don’t have to go somewhere else to find one.
But what good is that if those jobs suck up all the water
those children need to drink?

This is the problem:

“What I believe the three most important things are,
not only for our community, and our state, and our country,
but for our country,
thats jobs number 1, jobs number 2, and jobs.”





Brad Lofton, Executive Director,
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA),
speaking at the
Lake Park Chamber of Commerce annual dinner,
Lake Park, Lowndes County, Georgia, 28 January 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

I shook Brad Lofton’s hand after that speech and told him I liked it,
because I did: in general it was a positive speech about real accomplishments.
I’ve also pointed out I had a few nits with that speech.
This one is more than a nit.
This one is basic philosophy and policy.

Now one would expect an executive director of an industrial authority
to be all about jobs.
And that would be OK, if

Continue reading →

“We’re industrial development” –Mary Gooding

After some some other things,


I

asked the VLCIA board (18 Jan 2011)
about my

previously submitted questions about house refitting for insulation and efficiency,
and about rooftop solar,
such as have been successful in Austin and Houston, Texas.

Mary Gooding answered:

“That really would be the city…
we’re industrial development.”

She didn’t say which city.
There is more than one city in the county.
The question as sent to them in writing refered to Hahira; maybe
that’s the city she meant.
Should Hahira not expect any help from VLCIA?

And what about us who don’t live in any of the cities?


So far, all the new solar rooftop installations are in unincorporated
parts of the county, although

both are in Hahira’s 31632 ZIP code.

Col. Ricketts, at the direction of the board, has since sent me a response,
which will lead off tomorrow morning.

VLCIA seemed somewhat confused as to what their protocol is
as to answering questions:

Continue reading →

What’s the Industrial Authority’s Plan?

Appended is my LTE in the VDT today.
I’ve added links. -jsq



What is the Industrial Authority’s plan to bring in real clean jobs?


MAGE SOLAR is hiring for the first of 350 jobs
in its photovoltaic (PV) solar manufacturing plant in Dublin, Georgia, with half
the population of Valdosta, in Laurens County, with half the
population of Lowndes County. They’ve parlayed their position
between the Atlanta airport and the Savannah seaport for
many new clean jobs.

Suniva of Norcross’s second PV plant with its 500 jobs
went to Michigan.
Saginaw Valley calls itself Solar Valley and collaborates
with governments, academia, and industry, winning thousands of clean
jobs in wind and solar manufacturing and generating plants.


The Saginaw News remarked (7 Nov 2010):

Continue reading →

VLCIA biomass event Q&A



Here are videos that illustrate the VDT’s point today in

What We Think:

While officials continue to downplay local citizen anger about current
projects, citizens are organizing in a variety of ways to affect change
the next election cycle. When Sterling Chemical came to Lowndes County in
the 1990s, citizens were told the project was a “done deal,” and so
it was. Sterling is still here, but those in office at the time aren’t,
and the director of the Industrial Authority at the time is no longer
here either.

As has been shown worldwide, citizens are tired of being told what’s
best for them, having no say so in how their tax dollars are spent,
and having their concerns ignored.

Until officials understand that it is coming from all directions and not
just led by a few malcontents, the swell will continue to grow. And those
who continue to ignore the anger and frustration do so at their own peril.

Maybe the VDT is referring to this kind of response from the VLCIA panel
on 6 Dec 2010:

“these things do prop up the local economy, period, end of discussion.”

A previous questioner who had a job in Vietnam
notes he was lied to about Agent Orange

and asks “can you assure me that I won’t be affected by this?”

Continue reading →

VLCIA Biomass “Forum” Tonight: Do they have a plan?



According to the
VDT’s What We Think of yesterday:

All citizens of Lowndes County and any other interested parties are
encouraged to attend the Biomass Forum Monday night, hosted by the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority, at 7:30 at the Conference
Center.

Forum? As in people will get time to get real questions answered?
And the VLCIA might be interested in real input?

The authority has invited a half-dozen individuals to speak, which will
last approximately 60 to 90 minutes, followed by “ample” time for
questions to be answered, at least 30 minutes, according to the Authority.

Hm, 3 to 1 they speak we listen.
Interesting definition of “forum”.
Also, despite VLCIA’s many complaints that people didn’t get involved
early enough in their previous public meetings about this plant,
if this event is listed on VLCIA’s own website, I can’t find it.
It’s not on the VLCIA’s facebook page, either.

Although on November 10th there are two VLCIA facebook posts saying:

The Industrial Authority stands behind its decision for the construction
of Wiregrass Power LLC and feels like this green project will be a
win/win for the community.

So much for looking for input.

Anyway, back to the VDT:

The Times has presented several stories with facts concerning the $140
million project, which will generate 20 to 25 local jobs once the plant
is up and running.

20 to 25 local jobs.

Meanwhile, in other places that have a plan:



What’s our plan, VLCIA?

How about we plant trees instead of burn them?

And I agree with the VDT on this:

And to the Industrial Authority and invited speakers, you are urged to
not insult the intelligence of those attending. They understand what
the plant will do. What they want to know is how this will affect them
in terms of health issues, air quality and safety, burning sewage,
the number of trucks on the highway so close to several schools, etc.

The onus is on you, the Authority, to handle this in a much more
professional manner than the last Sterling project.

More to the point, why is the VLCIA wasting its political capital
(and our tax dollars)
on this one polluting plant when it could be working to bring in
real clean energy?

Does the VLCIA have a plan to raise the local metro area out of

the bottom 10 for wages?
Or is this 20-25-job polluting plant the best the VLCIA can do?

If you can’t come to tonight’s “forum”, or even if you can,
here is

contact information for your elected and appointed officials,
including the VLCIA board.

-jsq

Solar Booming Nationwide (so why not here?)



While the Wall Street Journal says biomass is
a money-losing proposition,
Stacy Feldman notes in Solve Climate News that

U.S. Solar Market Booms, With Utility-Scale Projects Leading the Way:

America could add 10 gigawatts of solar power every year by 2015, enough
to power 2 million new homes annually, industry and market analysts have
claimed in a new report.

Continue reading →

Houston’s Renewable Energy

For those people around Lowndes County who are living in the
past and still say solar doesn’t work,
Jonathan Hiskes interviews the former mayor of Houston, Bill White,

in Grist, 24 Sep 2010, and asks about solar energy and efficiency:



During White’s time as mayor of Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city, he ran a highly successful home-weatherization program and engineered a major purchase of 50 megawatts of clean energy, giving momentum to the state’s booming wind industry.

Hm, so VSU, for example, could buy wind energy from windmills off the Georgia Coast…

Read on about solar.

Continue reading →